Abstract
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture in Northeast Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami that destroyed entire coastal villages. Blackouts at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused its cooling systems to fail, leading to three nuclear meltdowns and the release of large amounts of radionuclides. These disastrous events are considered a compound disaster, a cascading disaster, as well as a natech disaster. The Tōhoku Earthquake is listed as the fourth strongest earthquake in history and the Fukushima nuclear disaster as the second largest nuclear power plant accident.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Encyclopedia of Technological Hazards and Disasters in the Social Sciences |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. |
| Pages | 689-694 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781800882201 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781800882195 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 Jan 1 |
Keywords
- Cascading disaster
- Chernobyl nuclear disaster
- Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
- Great East Japan Earthquake
- Natech disaster
- The 2011 Triple Disasters